Beaudesert (house)
Encyclopedia
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. It was one of the family seats of the Paget family, the Marquesses of Anglesey
Marquess of Anglesey
Marquess of Anglesey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo...
. The estate was obtained by William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
in 1546; the family's other main seat is at Plas Newydd
Plas Newydd
Plas Newydd, located in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, Wales, is the country seat of the Marquess of Anglesey. The family's former principal seat at Beaudesert, Staffordshire, was sold and demolished in the 1930s....
.
The estate was broken up by the 6th Marquess of Anglesey
Marquess of Anglesey
Marquess of Anglesey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo...
due to financial difficulties; as a result the furniture was sold off and the fabric of the hall and stables went to auction. Some of the furnishings of the house, including oak panelling and the Waterloo Staircase were taken to Carrick Hill
Carrick Hill
Carrick Hill is a publicly accessible property at the foot of the Adelaide hills, in the suburb of Springfield, in South Australia. It was the Adelaide home of Sir Edward "Bill" Hayward and his wife Lady Ursula , and contains a large collection of drawings, sculptures, antiques and paintings...
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. Demolition began in 1935; however, it was never completed and some ruins remain standing.
Today some of the former estate land is used as a Scout
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
and Guide
Girlguiding UK
Girlguiding UK is the national Guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. Guiding began in the UK in 1910 after Robert Baden-Powell asked his sister Agnes to start a group especially for girls that would be run along similar lines to Scouting for Boys. The Guide Association was a founder member of...
camp and a local wildlife trust and new buildings are used for residential courses. The Grand Lodge built in 1814 still stands at the entrance on Horsey Lane, east of the ruins.
History
Beaudesert Old Park formed the largest part of the estate north of the hall. This part of the estate was a deer park and the landscape is wild and dominated by thick forest. It is assumed that the name Beaudesert derived from this landscape, being French in origin and roughly translated to ‘beautiful wilderness’
The first Beaudesert Hall on the site had been occupied as early as 1292 when it was occupied by the Trumwyns of Cannock. Early in the 14th century it was the palace of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
Bishop of Lichfield
The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
. Following the reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
by Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
the Bishops were relieved of Beaudesert and in 1546, large parts of Cannock Chase including Beaudesert were given to one of the King’s closest advisors, Sir William Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
.
Thomas Paget, 3rd Baron Paget
Thomas Paget, 3rd Baron Paget
Thomas Paget, 3rd Baron Paget was a member of the British aristocracy. He was the second son of William Paget, 1st Baron Paget and his wife Anne Preston. He succeeded to the title Baron Paget in 1568 on his older brother Henry's death....
, extensively rebuilt Beaudesert Hall between 1573 and 1583. The distinctive elizabethan
Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture is the term given to early Renaissance architecture in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historically, the period corresponds to the Cinquecento in Italy, the Early Renaissance in France, and the Plateresque style in Spain...
east front dates from this time. The majority of the east front was built out of brick with some stone, which was quarried from Cannock Chase. The Bishops formerly had a house of some importance at Beaudesert and much of the fabric of the great hall built during the 14th century remained during the rebuild.
The next significant work on the Hall came in the 18th century under the ownership of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge
Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (first creation)
Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge PC was a British nobleman and politician.-Family:He was the son of William Paget, 6th Baron Paget, and his wife Frances, daughter of Francis Pierrepoint and a granddaughter of Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull...
. James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
remodelled the interior of the hall in 1771-72. It was at this time when the courtyard was removed and the coach house and stables were erected of white stone in the form of a crescent, 100-150 yards north of the hall. By this time the hall could be approached from nine perimeter lodges. Eight of these lodges still remain as residential dwellings. Grand Lodge, east of the hall was the main entrance. Built in 1814 by John Shaw, the building has many architectural features that were present in the hall. In the 1820s, Joseph Potter
Joseph Potter (architect)
Joseph Potter , was an English architect and builder from Lichfield, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom. Potter has a considerable practice in Staffordshire and its neighbouring counties in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Potter lived in Pipehill south west of Lichfield and had...
made some minimal changes to the exterior but inside much of the original plasterwork and wood was replaced, with Potter also adding a billiard room.
A fire occurred at Beaudesert on 5 November 1909 and a large amount of money was spent by the 6th Marquess
Charles Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey
Charles Henry Alexander Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey GCVO was a British peer.Paget was born in 1885, the son of Lord Alexander Paget, was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College Sandhurst and in 1905 he succeeded as Marquess of Anglesey on the demise of his childless cousin, the 5th...
to renovate the house and replace much of what had been done by the predecessors and return to the work conceived by the 3rd Baron Paget. Not a lot of work was done to the exterior of the house except to the west and to the porch on the east front, which was returned to its 16th century appearance.
In 1920 the 6th Marquess left to live at Plas Newydd
Plas Newydd
Plas Newydd, located in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, Wales, is the country seat of the Marquess of Anglesey. The family's former principal seat at Beaudesert, Staffordshire, was sold and demolished in the 1930s....
. The furniture he did not take with him was sold off during the summer of 1921. Heavy taxation after the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
meant that the Marquess could no longer afford to maintain the property at Beaudesert, so it was put up for sale. The house was offered to many public bodies, colleges and school authorities but in every case it was found to be unsuitable for purpose. In 1932 Beaudesert and about 2,000 acres of adjoining land went on sale at auction in Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
. Sadly no buyer was found for the estate, although the nine lodges were all purchased. In 1935 a further sale was held to sell off the fabric of the hall and stables including fixtures and fittings. The sale for the whole of the fabric of the hall and stables recouped £8,000, and some 20,000 ft2 of wood paneling were taken away to grace other buildings. Demolition began in 1935, however was not entirely completed as the demolition firm went bust during the work.
The Mansion
The Great Hall was a room of some size, 80 ft long by 22 ft wide. The floor of the room was Hopton Wood stone, and it had a panelled wagon roofed ceiling. The wall were panelled to 10 ft high in old oak, and above the panelling hung 17th century tapestries. On the south wall were several traceriedTracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
windows, consisting of two tiers of four very narrow lights. The upper lights were trefoil
Trefoil
Trefoil is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism...
headed having such massive framework that the central shaft is equal in width to the lights. On the west wall was a stone mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
ed leaded light window some 20 ft in height.
One of the most notable features of the hall was the Waterloo Staircase. It was installed by the 1st Marquess after the battle
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1815. The staircase was situated to the right of the upper part of the entrance hall. It had 15 carved newel posts which were surmounted by openwork carved oak lanterns and balustrades. The staircase was bought by Edward and Ursula Hayward and removed to Carrick Hill
Carrick Hill
Carrick Hill is a publicly accessible property at the foot of the Adelaide hills, in the suburb of Springfield, in South Australia. It was the Adelaide home of Sir Edward "Bill" Hayward and his wife Lady Ursula , and contains a large collection of drawings, sculptures, antiques and paintings...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1935, where it was reassembled and is now on public display. Carrick Hill House also has certain fireplace and panelling on display which were once park of Beaudesert.
An oak linen fold screen which once stood between the entrance hall and the great hall is now at the museum which houses the Burrell Collection
Burrell Collection
The Burrell Collection is an art collection in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated in Pollok Country Park on the south side of the city.-History:...
in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. During demolition many of the bricks from Beaudesert were taken to re-face St James’s Palace, which had suffered from pollution as a result of coal smoke.
The Gardens
The gardens at Beaudesert were quite large and extended from the hall to Castle RingCastle Ring
Castle Ring is an Iron Age hill fort, situated high up on the southern edge of Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, in the village of Cannock Wood, England. Castle Ring was thought to have been occupied around AD 50, by the Celtic Cornovii tribe....
. A wide pathway called the Broad Walk ran the length of the gardens. The lower end of Broad Walk near the hall had yew
Taxus baccata
Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...
hedge on either side which had topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
in the form of 24 peacock shapes. From Broad Walk access could be gained to the terrace sitting room on the first floor of the hall, this was gained by the way of a stone terrace beneath which and supporting it on the lawn side were several stone arches. The most outstanding feature of the gardens was a chain of about seven lily ponds. The water would fall from the first pond high up in the garden and cascade by the way of waterfalls into the next one until the water from the last pool but one ran under a stone bridge and then cascaded into the pond nearest to the hall by the way of a 14 ft high waterfall. The gardens were landscapes with ornamental shrubs such as azaleas, rhododendrons and mahonia
Mahonia
Mahonia is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalaya, North America and Central America. They are closely related to the genus Berberis. Botanists disagree on the acceptability of the genus name Mahonia...
s, these are all still present today and contrast with the surrounding pine forest landscape. In 1937 Lord Anglesey gave 123 acres of land on which the gardens stood to the scouts
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
, guides and other associations and organisations having similar purposes. The Beaudesert Trust was set up to administer the land. A camping site was opened on 2 July 1938 by H.R.H. The Princess Royal
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
The Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood was a member of the British Royal Family; she was the third child and only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the sixth holder of the title of Princess Royal...
. Since then the camp has been used by the scout groups using the site.